Example customization: Communication Plan

Like many SMART IRB resources, the Communication Plan is intended to be adapted and customized to fit the needs of your organization. Indeed, the best implementation of SMART IRB resources occurs when institutions take the time to obtain institutional buy-in and adapt the templates to best serve their study team members and IRB/HRPP personnel alike. Below you will find an example of customizing SMART IRB resources to adapt to the needs of an institution.

For questions on resource customization, please reach out to Senior SMART IRB Officer Jeremy Lavigne, MA, CIP at jeremy_lavigne@hms.harvard.edu .

Template SMART IRB Communication Plan (unmodified)

Communication Plan Customization Example
For questions on the below example, please reach out to Senior SMART IRB Officer Jeremy Lavigne, MA, CIP at jeremy_lavigne@hms.harvard.edu .

In the above example, you can see several areas of customization, including

• Institutional logo
• Institutional color scheme (hex)
• Revised 'Purpose of Form' to provide institutional partners with institution-specific details (e.g. e-mail) to contact with questions
• Pre-populated 'Responsible Party' section to designate standard institutional processes
• Use of 'Notes' section to designate

When making adjustments to SMART IRB resources, we recommend spending time with your local research community to ensure that any new processes are understood by all relevant parties.